Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a theory that we can reduce crime through the way we design buildings and public spaces.

Council has a Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Control Plan included in our Development Control Plan (Volume 1) to help designers incorporate features to minimise opportunities for crime.

Some CPTED principles are used in the assessment of development applications:

• Surveillance - people feel safer in public areas where they can easily see and interact with others. Would-be offenders are often deterred from committing crime in areas with high levels of surveillance. Lighting and choice of plants plays a role.
• Access control - physical and symbolic boundaries between public and private spaces and barriers can be used to attract, channel or restrict the movement of people. They minimise opportunities for crime and increase the effort required to commit crime.
• Territorial reinforcement - people often feel comfortable in, and are more likely to visit, places which feel owned and cared for. Well-used places also reduce opportunities for crime. Community ownership also increases the likelihood that people who witness crime will respond by quickly reporting it or by attempting to prevent it.
• Space management - involves property owners including Council keeping spaces well maintained and used.